Permutation-lock.



J. R. MAXFIELD. PERMUTATION LOCK.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 2a, 1908.

91 1,144. Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

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JAMES'R. MAXFIELD, OF GRAND SALINE, TEXAS.

PEBMUTATION-LOCKQ Specificationoi Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

Application filed March 28, 1908. Serial No. 423,843.

To all whom it may concern: 7 Y

Be it known that 1, JAMES R. MAxrrnLn, citizen of the United States, residing, at

-Grand Saline, in the county of Van Zandt and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Permutation-Locks, of whic the following is a speci- My invention relates to new; and useful improvements in. ermutation locks.

The object of t ,e invention is to provide certain improvements on the lock shown in my Letters Patent .No. 879,785. issued February 18, 1908,, which consist. mainly in .means for varying the combination and deceiving unauthorized persons attempting to manipulate the lock, and in fact to make it practically impossible for one to learn the combination and open the look by manipulating the parts. 7 1

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described that will be strong, durable, efilcient and simple and comparatively inexpensive to construct,

also one in which the several parts will not be liable to get out of working order.

With the above and other obj ectsin view,

a the inventionuhas relation to certain novel features of constructlon and operation, an

example of which is described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 1s a perspective view of a mail box equipped with my improved lock, showing the door thereof in its lowered position, Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the bolt in its retracted osition to permit the lowering of the door, rig. 3is an. end elevation of the mail box, broken away to show interior construction, Fig. 4 is a partial vertical section taken on the line a of Fig. 3 and looking in the direction'of'the arrow, and Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on the line aa of Fig. 3

" and looking in'the direction of the arrow.

In the drawings the numeral 1 designates a mail box of any suitable form, one end of which is hinged along its lower edge to constitute a door 2 affording access to the interior of the box. 7 The door of the box is normally held inits' closed or. locked position by a bolt 3 which slides in a suitable guide 4 secured upon the inner face of the door and I engagesa keeper 5 secured to the inner side of the box end as shownin'Fig. 2'. The bolt is provided with a laterally extending knob are securedthereon by. set screws 11. disks are arranged to turn with the shafts 6 which projects through a slot .7 formed in the door so that it may be readily engaged by the finger of the person desiring to operate the bolt 3.

, J ournaled in, the door on opposite sides of the bolt 3, are, shafts 8 and 9 projecting through. the door and having their projecting ends squared to receive knob-disks 1O wl pich and to fit snugly against the outer side of the. door and have their exposed faces provided with a plurality of letters or other symbols or characters thereon. The outer face of the door is provided above the center of each disk with suitable marks 12 and 14, into registration with which, the characters on the disks are designed to be brought when working the combination.

Shafts 15 are secured to the inner side of the door above the shafts 8 and 9 and have their rear ends supported in bearings 16 formed on the closure 17 of a casing 18 carried on the door and covering the lock mechanism. Disks 19 and 20 are mounted on plurality of equi-distant notches 21 extending around the periphery thereof. These notches are all of the same depth except one notch 22 in each disk, which is considerably V the shafts 15 and are each provided with a 1 greater in depth than the other notches, for

a purpose to be hereinafter set forth. It is to be noted that there is a letter or symbol on each disk 10 to correspond with each notch of the disks above.

Across bar 23 projects on each side of the bolt 3, terminatin in downwardly extending dogs 24, the ower ends of which are adapted to engage the notches formed in the peripheries of the disks 19 and 20. A coiled spring 25 serves to normally hold the upper I end of the bolt in engagement with the keeper 5 and the dogs out of engagement with the notches in the said disks, the upward movement of the bolt being limited by the contact of the cross bar withthe top ofthe casing 18.

The notches 21 are of such depth that when the dogs 24 are moved into engagement therewith, the upper end of the bolt 3 will be maintained in engagement with its keeper, but when the disks 19 and 20 are rotatedto such aposition that the bolt may "be moved by the knob 6 thereof to cause the dogs to engagein the deep notches 22, the

downward'movement imparted to the bolt will be sufficient to cause its disengagement from the keeper 5 and consequently permit the door 2 to be lowered.

The general construction so far describ d is substantially the same as that shown and described in my former patent, except that the disks 19 and 20 were rotated directly by the shafts 8 and 9. In order to make it more diilicult for unauthorized persons to tamper with the lock and discover the combination, the ends of the shafts 8 and 9 are reduced to receive a gear 26 and a pinion 27 respectively which are securely held in place by screws 28 driven into the said shafts. 'lhe gear 26 meshes with a pinion 29 loosely mounted on the shaft 15 above, while the pinion 27 meshes with the gear 30 loosely mounted on the shaft 15 above. These gears and pinions are each provided at a point equi-dis- 'tant from their centers with recesses to receive a pin 31 carried on the disks 19 and 20, so that motion will be transmitted therefrom to the said disks.

'l'he pinions and gears have the same bore so as to fit on the shafts 15 or the reduced portion of the shafts 8 and 9 thus being interc'hangeablc and providing means for changing the combination as will be hereinafter described. 'lhe gear 26 being larger than the pinion 29 it is apparent that it will only be necessary to turn the knob-disk 10 of the shaft 8 a portion of a revolution to bring the deep notch 22 of the disk 19' beneath the dog 24, while the pinion 27 being smaller in diameter than the gear 30 it will be necessary to revolve the said pinion more than a revolution to bring the deep notch 22 of the disk- 20 beneath the dog 24:. The gears and pinions being interchangeable, it is evident that the pinion 27 and the gear 30 may be interchanged thus changing the combination, and that a further change may be had by interchanging the gear 26 and pinion 29 and so on.

When it is desired to lower the door 2, the knob disks 10 are manipulated to bring certain predetermined letters thereon into registration with the marks 12 and 14 and then move the first disk a certain portion of a revolution so that the deep notch 22 is brorght beneath the dog 24 as will be necessary when the arrangement is made with the pinion above and the gear below; while on the other hand where the pinion is below the gear as in the case of the disk 20, the knobdisk 10 can be revolved two or more revolutions stopping at a predetermined point to bring the deep notch 22 under the dog 24. It is apparent that by loosening the set screws 11, the knob-disks may be removed and by shifting them a portion of a revolution, the combination may be readily changed. In this way two separate and distinct ways of changing the combination are afforded.

-When the deep notches 22 have been brought beneath the dogs 24, the bolt 3 may be moved downwardly a sullicient distance to permit the door to be lowered.

vlt is apparent that the notches 21 may be omitted without affecting the operation of the lock, although by their use the lock is more deceptive and less apt to be discovered by unauthorized persons. It is further obvious that pinions and gears with various diameters may be used and readily interchanged. hen it is desired to change the gears, the casing closure 17 is removed permitting either the pinion 29 or gear 30 to be removed from its shaft and by loosening the screws 28, the gear 26 or the pinion 27 may be removed and the parts interchanged as before mentioned.

It is obvious that this is a great improvement over my former patent as the combination therein could be discovered after a little experimenting and manipulation of the knob disks, and I wish it understood that one of the novel featu res of the improvement is the arrangement of the parts whereby the pinions and gears can be interchanged, and by which arrangement the combination may be made so deceptive as to foil the attempts of unauthorized persons to discover the combination.

W hat I claim, is:

1. '1 he combination with a box and a door, of a lock for the box comprising a bolt slidably secured to the interior of the box and adapted to cooperate with a keeper on the box, means for actuating the belt, a pair of dogs carried by the bolt and movable therewith, a pair of shafts journaled in the door, indicator disks carried on the shafts on the outside of the door, a second pair of disks mounted on the inside of the door above the shafts, each of said disks having a notch in its periphery adapted to receive one of the dogs carried by the bolt, and gear and pinion mechanism interposed between the second pair of disks and the pair of shafts for transmitting motion from the shafts to the said disks.

2. The combmation with a box and a door,

of a lock for the box comprising a bolt slidably secured to the interior of the box and adapted to cooperate with a keeper on the box, means for actuating the bolt, a pair of dogs carried by the bolt and movable therewith, a pair of shafts journaled in the door, indicator disks carried on the shafts on the outside of the door, a second pair of disks mounted on the inside of the door above the shafts, each of said disks having a notch in its periphery adapted to receive one of the dogs carried by the bolt, and gear and pinion mechanism interposed between the second pair of disks and the pair of shafts for transmitting motion from the shafts to the said disks, the said gear and pinion mechanism comprising interchangeable gears and pinions removably supported.

3. The combination with a box and a door,

of a lock for the box comprising a bolt slid-,

ably secured to the interlor of the box and adapted to cooperate withoa keeper on the box, means for actuating the bolt, a pair of dogs carried by the bolt and movable therewith, a pair of shafts journaledin the door, indicator disks secured on the shafts onthe outside of the door whereby said shafts may be turned, a second pair of shafts mounted on the door on the inside thereof, a second pair of disks mounted on the last named shafts, each of said disks having a notch in its periphery adapted to receive one of the dogs carried by the bolt, gears removably mounted on two of said shafts, and pinions removably mounted on two of the shafts, said pinions being arranged to mesh with the gears whereby motion is imparted to the second pair of disks.

7 In testimony whereof I have signed my.

name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES R. MAXFIELD. Witnesses:

THos. H. PEERY, S. B. MAUPIN. 

